> The electronic game industry can do the
> dumbing down much more effectively, and with willing participation of the
> dumbees themselves.
The best 3D videogames are complex, sophisticated works of art, which require tactile skills, managerial savvy, higher-level thinking, and much else besides. The worst are just bad TV -- and if bad TV really rotted the brain, then Hitachi, Sony and Toyota wouldn't exist (Japan's media fixation makes the US look like the bunch of amateurs which, basically, they are). There's more to be learned about the politics of the US Empire from a Half Life level than from many a sociology textbook.
As for the whole teaching vs. learning debate... it comes down to this: every classroom is much more than just teachers and students. There's (1) the texts in question, (2) the personal histories of the teachers and students, and (3) the geopolitical moment. You have to triangulate all three moments to generate a true learning environment, and the best way of doing that is by confronting and teaching the media texts, because there are some truly great ones out there.
-- DRR